Dr. Visit

Maddie had her 8 month visit to the doctors. Really, it was her 9 month checkup, but we did it early since I'm on winter break. As usual, she hammed it up and made everyone laugh with her funny faces and noises. The doctor had to stop talking several times because Madeline was cracking her up.
Her checkup went well. She is 75th percentile in weight, 70th in height and 80th in head circumfrence. Her iron was great too. The doctor was happy with our feeding and sleeping schedules and said to keep it up because she looked healthy and happy.
It's been fun watching her explore new foods. She's tried peas, green beans, squash, sweet potatoes, carrotts, apples, pears, peaches, bananas, blueberries, and cherries. Her favorites are peaches and squash. We've explored the wonderful world of Cheerios too, thanks to the encouragement of my cousin, Tina. It's fun watching her pick them up and get them stuck on her cheeks or the palms of her hands.
She is still a pretty good sleeper, however she has started waking up in the middle of the night again. She use to wake up and make a few noises then go back to sleep. Now she wakes up and pulls herself up to a standing position and screams until we come up. We haven't figured out how to break this habit yet. To be continued...

Mobile Maddie

It's hard to believe it, but Madeline is 8 months old. She continues to surprise us every day.
She went from rolling to crawling to pulling up to cruising all within 2 weeks.
She loves her new freedom and she cannot be stopped. I always knew we would have to keep our eye on her when she became more mobile, but had no idea how much. Wow! She is a mover!
It's so fun watching her explore her "new" world. She is so curious and alert. It's like we could see her brain taking everything in.
She is quite the ham too. Whenever we are in public she will show off by blowing razberries, making a scrunched up face and sniffing (you'd have to see it...funny) and screaching to get attention. Attention is exactly what she gets too. She makes people laugh and smile wherever we go.

Our Big Day in Court

Thank you Aunt Hughena for eveything! We love you and words cannot express how much we appreciate all you've done for us. We can't wait until Madeline is old enough to hear the story of how you helped bring us all together. Uncle Pat, we love you too! This picture was taken 5 minutes before we went into to court for Madeline's big day.

Cousin Margaret helps show off my beautiful dress that Aunt Hughena bought me!

Princess Maddie demands someone peel her a grape!!

From left to right, Grandpa Dan Walker, Grandma Barbara Walker, Judge, Mom, Maddie, Dad, Atty Henry Gerhardt, ad litem Atty.

Halloween

We Are a little behind on our bloging lately but here's a quick update.
These are a few pictures of our little "Monkey" on her first halloween. She was the hit of the neighborhood. It did turn out that she had an alergic reaction to the costume though, but not a bad one.